- Miss Lemon: This lady keeps telephoning, Mr. Poirot.
- Hercule Poirot: Sacré. What a terrible circumstance.
- Miss Lemon: There's no need to be sarcastic, Mr. Poirot. I was going on to say that I didn't put her through to you, because she wouldn't give her name.
- Hercule Poirot: Ah.
- Miss Lemon: I told her you don't take anonymous phone-calls.
- Hercule Poirot: But I do, Miss Lemon. Sometimes I think anonymous telephone calls are the only ones worth taking.
- Miss Lemon: But how will I know where to file her if I haven't got a name?
- Hercule Poirot: Life first, Ms. Lemon, filing second.
- Miss Lemon: Very well then.
- [Hastings huffs in amusement]
- Miss Lemon: Next time she calls, I'll let her talk to you. And on your own head be it.
- Captain Hastings: You shouldn't tease her, Poirot.
- Hercule Poirot: She makes it irresistible.
- [last lines]
- Chief Inspector Japp: Must be depressing for you when that sort of thing happens, eh, Poirot.
- Hercule Poirot: What sort of thing?
- Chief Inspector Japp: Why, everything working out for the best: some married couple ready for a second honeymoon, orphan children reunited with their parents.
- Hercule Poirot: Yes, it is hard, hm. But we must put on it the brave face, huh. And not allow cheerfulness to keep breaking through.
- Hercule Poirot: [laughing] Drive on, Hastings.
- Hercule Poirot: I'll have to take a promenade in the garden before turning in. It will clear my brain.
- Lady Carrington: You might have done that before we played cards.
- Hercule Poirot: Madame is too agreeable. Good night.
- Sir George Carrington: Froggy thinks she didn't do it.
- Hercule Poirot: [entering] Froggy *knows* she didn't do it.
- Hercule Poirot: Non, non, non! There should not be between the husband and the wife, the sleepy dogs!
- Tommy Mayfield: Why do politicians treat everyone else like idiots?
- Sir George Carrington: [as a MP] Probably because they voted for us in the first place.
- Captain Hastings: [Imitating Chief Inspector Japp, who was talking in his sleep] Stand back lads, he's got a blancmange!
- Hercule Poirot: [polishing his shoe] Petroleum jelly, Hastings, that is the secret. You rub it well in and it will prevent the cracking, yes.
- Captain Hastings: [resting on a sofa] How do you work out cubic thingummies?
- Hercule Poirot: Comme?
- Captain Hastings: Cubic thingummies, how do you work them out? I mean, this ceiling is what? Ten feet up, yes. So do you multiply ten...
- Hercule Poirot: Hastings, I am trying to instruct you in the care of patent leather, something that will be of use to you in later life.
- Captain Hastings: So will be cubic thingummies. Suppose I'll have to survey something or something.
- Hercule Poirot: You do not deceive me, Hastings. You are having these eccentric thoughts because of this girl of yours, eh? This student of architecture.
- Captain Hastings: Well, we never seem to have anything to talk about. I tried reading a book about Bernini. She is very keen on Bernini. I couldn't make head or tail of it.
- Hercule Poirot: No, no, no, no, no, Hastings, women do not wish to talk about Bernini and cubic "thingummies".
- Captain Hastings: I don't know if she wants to talk about anything. She's never in when I call around to see her. I end up having tea with her mother every day.
- Tommy Mayfield: [observing a test flight] Like a solid wall of lead, two feet square, coming straight at you.
- Sir George Carrington: The main spar must be tremendously strong to withstand the g-force at the turning circle.
- Tommy Mayfield: And the recoil from the gun. It's built up in layers, so the whole thing acts like a giant leaf spring, and we are still improving on it too, but I can't go on pouring my own money into the Kestrel forever.
- Sir George Carrington: You seem not to understand the position the Defence Committee is in, Mayfied. They like you. Most of them are hundred-percent behind you, but that Japanese business nearly brought the government down. One more scandal like that and...
- Tommy Mayfield: There are no more scandals like that. You are saying they don't trust me.
- Sir George Carrington: It's not a question of trust.
- Tommy Mayfield: Yes, it is! Very well then. If they want me to prove to them that they can trust me, that's what I'll do.
- Sir George Carrington: How do you mean? How you'll do that?
- Tommy Mayfield: I have invited Mrs. Vanderlyn down for the weekend.
- Sir George Carrington: Mrs. Vanderlyn? You are mad? You have invited her down here?
- Tommy Mayfield: And before the weekend is out, I promise you, I have hooked Mrs. Vanderlyn, reeled her in and gaffed her.
- Sir George Carrington: How?
- Tommy Mayfield: By using the plans of the Kestrel as a bait.
- Sir George Carrington: You idiot! You can't go using touchy papers like that! This is madness!
- Sir George Carrington: [observing a test flight] How does it compare with the Messerschmitt 109?
- Tommy Mayfield: More manoeuvrable, with a turning circle of 800 feet visibility is better too.
- Sir George Carrington: Fuel injection?
- Tommy Mayfield: No.
- Sir George Carrington: Pity, PM is very keen on fuel injection.
- Tommy Mayfield: Yes, he is right, but we just haven't got a reliable system yet!
- [first lines]
- Sir George Carrington: Mayfield.
- Tommy Mayfield: Sir George.
- Sir George Carrington: Show me.